News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		August 4, 2004 Scotsman SUDANESE GOVERNMENT FORCES 'DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN SLAUGHTER OF CIVILIANS' Gethin Chamberlain Diplomatic Correspondent In Darfur SUDANESE government forces are continuing to help the Janjaweed militia launch attacks on defenceless villagers in the Darfur region of Sudan despite international condemnation and pressure from the United Nations to bring an end to the bloodshed. Aid workers in Darfur say that in the last ten days Sudanese Antonov aircraft, supported by helicopter gunships, have killed a number of people in fresh attacks in northern Darfur. They also reported that four people were killed one week ago when Janjaweed militia and Sudanese government troops launched an attack on a crowded market place in Abu Dilake, where they believed anti-government rebels were present. In what would be an escalation of the problems facing the region, Mousa Hillal, the leader of the Mohamed Janjaweed tribe, is believed to have returned to the militia's camp at Mistariya from Khartoum to plan attacks on African Union peacekeeping forces. Reports from aid workers in the area suggest that he was flown back to Darfur in a Sudanese government helicopter. The fresh attacks came while the UN Security Council was debating whether it should impose sanctions against the Khartoum government if it failed to rein in the activities of the Janjaweed, the Arab militia which has been blamed for a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeted against the black African population of Darfur. Paul Hetherington, from the UK-based charity Save the Children, said that the most recent attack took place at the market in Abu Dilake a week ago, about 30km to the south east of the main town of El Fashir in northern Darfur. "Four people were killed," he said. "There were Janjaweed and government soldiers and they were shooting at people from all sides. People lay on the ground but they were still shot." Aid workers also reported that one month ago, Sudanese helicopter gunships took part in an attack on another market at Tabit, 40km south of El Fasher, killing a large number of people. One said: "Afterwards, people found the bodies all over the ground. The helicopters were bombing and they found one woman's body among the remains of a donkey. They only found her because they saw her hand sticking out from the donkey's body. They attacked the market because they believed that the rebels were there." Mr Hetherington said there had been reports from the Ararori area, north of Kuto, in northern Darfur, of bombing raids by Antonov aircraft and helicopters. The target of the attacks is believed to have been Sudanese Liberation Army rebels. No casualty figures were available. People living in Tawila, about an hour and half's drive from El Fashir, said that the Janjaweed continued to terrorise the area and many said they were too afraid to venture out into the surrounding countryside for fear of reprisals. Yahir Suleiman Mohamed, who moved to the town after the militia attacked his village, said the Janjaweed had warned people not to go out into the fields to tend their crops. "They told the people they could not cultivate their farms," he said. Yesterday, fresh evidence emerged of atrocities committed by the Janjaweed in Darfur. In the burnt-out village of Nami, outside the town of Tawila, survivors of an attack returned to a grave where the bodies of nine people were buried. The villagers said the nine, all men, had been forced to lie on the ground by the Janjaweed, who then opened fire on them with automatic weapons. The bodies of the victims were left lying on the ground just outside the village for a week before the Janjaweed finally left the village. Adam Saleh, who lost four relatives in the massacre, said animals had picked most of the flesh from the bodies and when the villagers returned they found the bones scattered around the site of the shooting. "There was a skull here and a leg there and there was still some flesh on the bones," he said. He later broke down in tears when he returned to the site of his former home, which had been burnt out by the Janjaweed before they left. The latest attack by the militia in the area came ten days ago, in the run up to the vote at the UN Security Council and while the Sudanese government was assuring the world that it was cracking down on the Janjaweed.
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